News from Indian Country
Page 9
Spilyay Ty moo
March 1, 2006
O'odham basketball player
reigns supreme on, o ff court
Sioux chiefs descendants
want his remains moved
TU C SO N , Ariz. (AP) -
At 6, Wynona Peters was in
sistent.
A nd
even
though
Grandm a was often busy
co o k jn g dinner or doing
chores at their home in Mis
sion View RV Park, she al
ways caved.
Grandma and her dark
haired, dark-eyed litde bas
ketball player often lost track
o f time as the girl launched
two-handed shots into the
night.
“We would plan on going
for 30 minutes, and it would
end up being like two, three
hours,” said Verna Miguel,
P e te rs' g rea t-a u n t, but
know n as her grandm a.
“That's about all we ever did.
I enjoyed it. I knew right
from the start that she was
going to be a big bailer.”
She was right.
Peters, now a senior at
Salp oin te C a th o lic H igh
School, is arguably the best
girls basketball player in
southern Arizona.
She also has become an
ex p ert in the T o h o n o
O'odham tradition.
T h e 17-year-old is the
tribe's reigning Wa:k Pow
Wow Princess and a member
o f the Wa:k tab basket danc
ers, a group that performed
last Ju ly F o u rth at the
Smithsonian's Museum o f
the A m erican In d ian in
Washington, D.C.
A nd thanks to her
grandma and Tucson bene
factor Dan Frost, Peters will
head to college soon.
Peters would not o ffer
any o f this information with
out
p rom p ting .
H er
Salpointe classmates learned
o f her tribal honors only a
few months ago, when she
was profiled in the school's
student magazine. She kept
quiet about her achievements
for more than three years.
B I L L IN G S ,
M ont.
(AP)— Four descendants o f
Sioux Chief Sitting Bull want
the bones o f their famous an
cestor moved from what is
believed to be his resting
place in South Dakota to the
Litde Bighorn Battlefield in
Montana.
Ernie LaPointe o f Lead,
S.D., the spokesman for the
four family members, said
that for 50 years, Sitting Bull’s
grave on the Standing Rock
Siou x R e serv a tio n near
Mobridge, S.D., has been ne
g lected and d ish on o red .
Now, L aP ointe said, new
owners o f the property plan
to e x p lo it the legendary
Lakota leader’s memory.
LaPointe and his sisters,
Marlene Litde Spotted Horse
Andersen, Ethel Litde Spot
ted Horse Bates and Lydia
Little Spotted H orse Red
Paint, sent letters Wednesday
advising governm ent and
tribal officials in North D a
kota, South Dakota and Mon
tana o f their intent to have
the remains moved.
“This is to notify you and
other interested parties o f
family right and authority to
re-inter our great-grandfather
Sitting Bull to Little Bighorn
Battlefield National Monu
ment, Montana,” it says. “We
do this because N orth D a
kota, South Dakota and the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
have n o t h o n o red th eir
promise for proper care and
m ain ten an ce
of
our
grandfather’s burial site.”
Darrell Cook, superinten-
“As O 'odham people, we
don't like to show emotion,” she
said. “We like to keep it inside.
That's how we are.”
Peters lives with the 59-year-
old Miguel while her mother,
V iv ian , w orks. H er fath er,
David, is a member o f the Ak-
Chin tribe. He lives on the res
erv a tio n , in the tow n o f
Maricopa.
The family travels to Peters'
games on money earned from
operating an Indian fry bread
stand outside the San Xavier del
Bac Mission on Sundays.
Miguel enjoys watching her
protege m ost. M iguel, who
never had children o f her own,
taught Peters both basketball
and O'odham tradition. Peters
won the Litde Miss Wa:k crown
at age 5 after singing a song
about four children who sacri
ficed their lives to stop a flood.
She won similar tides at ages 10
and 13.
Peters was named Pow Wow
Princess last March after a pag
eant that required her to display
both traditional and modern
O'odham talents. She's since
represented the tribe at the
Gathering o f Nations Pow Wow
in Albuquerque.
Peters sees herself as an am
bassador for the O'odham.
“W hen I play basketball, I
guess it's more exposure for me
on the court. When I dance, I
get more exposure for my tribe.
Both o f those things ... let non-
Native Americans know who I
am and what I stand for.”
T he once-shy girl has be
co m e a m em b er o f the
Salpointe community, an exclu
sive group that few from her
tribe have the opportunity to
join. She was accepted to the
school after attending grade
school at the San Xavier del Bac
Mission School.
Her tuition is paid for by
Frost, an 85-year-old philan
thropist who has long spon
sored students from the mission
school. Frost first met Peters
when she was in sixth grade;
he has since followed her aca
demic and athletic achieve
ments closely.
“It brings joy to me,” Frost
said. “There have been some
great kids to come through
the m ission sch o o l, but
Wynona is very, very special.
She has that maturity and
spirituality about her.
“I don't know how she
does it.”
What basketball brought
out in her, she gave back to
the team.
Peters averages 16 points,
5.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists
per game.
“ She makes everything
go,” said Scott Moushon, the
Lancers' first-year coach. “She
doesn't ever get a rest, and she
doesn't ever come out.”
Those who know Peters
the best paint her as a quiet,
willful girl who exudes the
grace befitting a Wa:k prin
cess.
She will leave the reserva
tion soon, and basketball. A
hardworking student who has
a 3.2 grade-point average,
she's set on attending the
University o f San Diego.
“I'm close to everybody on
the reservation, so leaving will
be hard,” she said.
Peters also will give up bas
ketball to concentrate solely
on school. She plans on re
turning to the reservation as
a pediatrician after medical
school.
Frost, her benefactor, has
agreed to pay for all her edu
cational expenses. He has ac
counted for Peters in his will.
“Some people just know
who they are,” Frost said.
“She has this inherent wis
dom , self-co n fid en ce and
leadership. Because o f what
she is and how she is, she can
be a great leader.”
Reservation drug dealer gets
almost 30 years in prison
RA PID CITY, S.D. (AP)—
The son o f a woman who has
been accused o f being the ring
leader o f a cocaine trafficking
ring on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation has been sentenced
to almost 30 years in prison.
U.S. D istrict Judge K aren
Schreier gave Colin Spotted Elk
352 months in prison and urged
him to do his best to live up to
his potential after he is released.
Sp o tted E lk , 2 6 , and his
mother, Geraldine Blue Bird,
have been convicted o f con
spiracy to distribute cocaine and
o f firearms and marijuana dis
tribution charges.
Blue Bird’s sentencing was
delayed until next month.
W itnesses have identified
Blue Bird as the leader o f a ring
that distributed at least 15 kilo
grams o f cocaine on the reser
vation and has resulted in 27
indictments to date.
At Spotted Elk’s sentencing
on Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy
who had shot and killed another
teenager at Blue Bird’s home tes
tified that he and other juveniles
held m oney and distributed
drugs for Blue Bird and Spot
ted Elk.
The boy testified that teen
agers had packaged drugs with
their parents, users traded fire
arms and sexual favors for co
caine, and toddlers had access
to handguns. Schreier ordered
that the juvenile be referred to by
his initials, C.C.
C.C. said he started using co
caine at age 13 and often stayed
at Blue Bird’s doublewide trailer
house in the Igloo Housing af
ter dropping out o f school in
the fourth grade.
He said he helped “break up”
marijuana that.Spotted Elk sold
and cut “papers” out o f maga
zines that Blue Bird used to re
package cocaine for sale on the
street. C.C. said he sometimes
held marijuana or stacks o f cash
for Spotted Elk.
C.C. named several other ju
veniles who he said sold drugs
for Spotted Elk or Blue Bird. He
told o f seeing two teenagers
doing cocaine with their mother
at Blue Bird’s house.
C.C. is serving a one-year sen
tence for involuntary manslaugh
ter at the Western South Dakota
Juvenile Services Center. He has
admitted pointing a gun and
shooting his friend Apollo White
Calf, 16, late in 2005.
Catawba author donates collection
R O C K H ILL, S.C. (AP)
— The author o f a new book
about the Catawba Indian
tribe has also donated his
collection o f historical docu
ments and other materials
relating to the tribe to the
University o f South Carolina
Lancaster.
“There's nothing else like this
in the state, not this quantity,”
university archivist Brent Burgin
said o f author Thomas Blumer's
collection. “Basically, Tom has
created a body o f work where
none existed.
“It's a huge set o f material
related to the Catawba Nation,
history and other American In
dian tribes in the area.”
The collection includes 1,600
photographs and a series o f
taped interviews.
B lu m er's
la te st b o o k ,
“Catawba Nation: Treasures in
History,” will be released this
week.
dent at Litde Bighorn Battlefield
National Monument, said the
battlefield has agreed to help
LaPointe and his sisters.
“We recognize Sitting Bull’s
legacy and that it is at the Little
Bighorn,” Cook said.
Sitting Bull led an alliance o f
Sioux, Cheyenne and others in
defiance o f government orders
to settle on reservations. His
struggle culminated in the de
feat o f the 7th Cavalry at Little
Bighorn on June 25, 1876.
The National Park Service
and Sitting Bull’s direct descen
dants have a long-established
working relationship that dates
to planning for the new Indian
M em orial at the B attlefield ,
Cook said.
“I think that’s why they felt
comfortable coming to us about
this,” he said.
Sitting Bull, who was killed
in a battle with Indian police in
1890, was originally buried near
Fort Yates, N.D., in the north
ern part o f the Standing Rock
Reservation.
S ittin g B u ll’s a n ce sto rs
moved his remains to South
Dakota in the 1950s, although
some contend the bones were
not his, but those o f another
man. Part o f the site’s attraction
is the mystery and controversy.
T he catalyst for the great
grandchildren’s decision appar
ently was a proposal by the non
profit Sitting Bull Monument
Foundation, which recently pur
chased the gravesite from a pri
vate owner. According to its
Web site, the foundation’s plans
include preservation and protec
tion o f the gravesite and de
velopment o f an educational
and cultural center and mu
seum. It would also include a
riverfront recreational devel
opment, amphitheater, snack
bar, restaurant and gift shop.
LaPointe said he and his
sisters were not consulted
about the plans and don’t
want to see a restaurant and
gift shops at the gravesite.
Reached by The Billings
Gazette by telephone, Bryan
Defender, a member o f the
Standing Rock Tribe and one
o f the founders o f the Sit
ting Bull Monument Founda
tion, said commercialization
was never his intent.
“Our motivation behind
this is very sincere,” he said.
“The development is a very
positive thing. The only thing
I want to do is display out-
culture, our history in an au
thentic, positive way and to
pay tribute to a leader who
has never been properly paid
tribute.”
T he foundation already
has co m p leted a m ajo r
cleanup at the gravesite and
has installed electricity and
lighting.
L a D o n n a Brave B u ll
Allard, tourism director for
Standing Rock, said Wednes
day that she had not heard
about LaPointe’s letter. Her
first reaction to hearing o f his
plan: “I don’t think that’s
possible.”
She said that although
LaPointe has rights, he is not
enrolled at Standing Rock and
she doesn’t know what rights
he has on reservation lands.
Cherokee group cuts acres
for Goosepond cultural site
SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (AP)—
In an effort to make a proposed
cultural center on Goosepond
Island more appealing to the
S co ttb o ro City C ouncil, an
American Indian tribe has cut the
size o f the land it seeks to build
the tribal complex on.
Leon Williamson, a member
o f the United Cherokee Ani-Yun-
Wiya Nation, told the council
Monday night the tribe wanted to
build the center on 55 acres on
the southern tip o f the island,
mainly to educate people about
the American Indians who once
lived on the island.
W illiam son said the tribe
would eventually like to expand
the site to the 300 acres it had
initially requested if the project
becomes a big tourist draw.
He believes the complex, in
cluding a museum, gift shop and
veterans memorial, would attract
thousands o f visitors annually.
“T h e re ’s no reason why
Scottsboro cannot attract that
many visitors,” said Garry Mor
gan, a council-appointed commit
tee member.
But council President Keith
Smith said the project demands
more research. He said he was
concerned that turning the land
over to the tribe would lead to a
gambling operation.
But Williamson said he and
other tribal leaders vowed they
would never pursue gambling,
with education their main goal
in creating the cultural center.
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